It was June, 1986. I was four years old and living my best life: Eating popsicles, watching Sesame Street, playing hockey in our living room, and going to Expo with my grandparents. What I didn’t realize is that every June from then on would mark the end of a school year for me. That September I entered Kindergarten, and every June since then has marked the completion of a school year—first as a student, then as an EA and teacher, and finally as an administrator. Every June since 1986, I’ve experienced the simultaneous feelings of sadness, fatigue, excitement, and nervousness—all feelings that eventually come to an end.  Over these years, I’ve also learned to live into hope and joy while waiting for a new beginning.

For students at Surrey Christian School, June once again marks an ending.  Kindergarten students have reached the end of their first official year in school! Students in Grade 7 are saying goodbye to their elementary school career.  Most momentously, our Grade 12 graduates are marking the end of the K-12 chapter of their lives. These are all significant milestones.  For some, this past year has been filled with good friendships, rich learning, and joyful memories.  They’ll be sad for this school year to end.  For others, it’s been a more difficult year. Perhaps friendships eroded or families experienced tragedy. We know that we live in a broken world and that things will not always be easy.

One of the many things that I have always loved about Surrey Christian School is that it is a place filled with both hope and joy. For me, this “hope” isn’t an empty or hollow sentimentality, but rather one that is rooted deeply in the Lord’s promises. The joy that fills the hallways and classrooms here isn’t a joy connected to circumstances or “happy times,” but is rather a joy that springs abundantly from the Lord. At Surrey Christian School, part of “Educating for Wholeness” means being a community that embodies this hope and joy. Embracing our place at Surrey Christian School means embracing the desire to be filled with the joyful hopes and desires that our Lord has for us.

In big and small ways, we have reached the end of another chapter in our lives. Come September, our circumstances will be different and new experiences will shape us.

And yet, in an even more significant way, everything will be the same in September. We will still serve a God that is in control of all things, a God that loves us fiercely, and a God that inspires us to live as hope-filled and joy-filled people. Because God is in control, we know that all will be well, regardless of how big our “endings” and “beginnings” may be. To God be the glory.